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Rick Flag Jr.
History Origin After the death of the original Rick Flag, the Suicide Squad was introduced to Richard Rogers Flag, who claimed to be his son. Young Rick headed a new, public team which included his girlfriend, Karin Grace, Dr. Hugh Evans, and Jess Bright. In one tragic mission in Cambodia they were pursued by a Yeti. Evans and Bright and the Yeti fell into a crevasse, presumably to their deaths. Bright survived, angered at being left behind. Bright, frostbitten and near-death, was found by the Chinese who nursed him back to health. He then passed onto the Russians who transformed him into the bionic monster called Koshchei the Deathless. With his expertise in engineering, Bright assisted in the creation of the Rocket Red Brigade and lent a hand to the nation of Qurac in assembling their metahuman team, the Jihad. Grace also secretly bore Flag's son and placed him with an adoptive family. Later, Rick was sent to infiltrate the Forgotten Heroes as a spy for the government. After the "death" of the Forgotten Heroes' leader, the Immortal Man, the team disbanded and Flag worked covertly for the U.S. government. A New Squad Flag was then tapped by the government to lead the new Suicide Squad as formed by Amanda Waller, a role he reluctantly assumed. Immediately, Rick showed signs of instability, which were worsened when Karin Grace became the team's medic. Flag hated working with the criminals under his command, and resented the notion that he and Deadshot were alike in any way. There were bright points amongst the Suicide Squad however, as the team was not completely filled with criminals. Nightshade, although she resented Flag at first when she was forced to become an accessory to murder when she became an undercover operative in the Jihad, grew attracted to him. She was never able to admit her feelings to him however, and he was too determined to notice them. Flag also held good relationships with Nemesis and the Bronze Tiger, even though both were in some ways opposed to Flag. Although Nemesis had feelings for Nightshade, something that Flag was also oblivious too, he stepped out of the way and respected Nightshade's feelings. Similarly, the Tiger was originally tapped to become the Squad's leader, but was instead replaced by Flag, something that the Tiger had no problems with. The loyalty Flag had towards his teammates and Waller was evident in the fact that he did not shy away from a conflict with the Justice League in order to free Nemesis from Soviet captivity. He also threatened a superior who was himself threatening Waller's position. This did nothing to ease Flag's mental instability, and it soon worsened. Flag led a different Squad in a deadly mission involving the Doom Patrol. None of Flag's people returned from that one. The death of Karin Grace also served to amplify this and it came to a head when US Senator Cray threatened to reveal the existence of the Suicide Squad to the public. Unbeknownst to him, Amanda Waller had already dealt with the threat, and Flag set out to assassinate Cray in order to ensure the existence of the Suicide Squad, even though he loathed some of its members. The Squad set out to stop him, with the clearance to do so by any means necessary. The villain Deadshot found Flag and Cray, but instead of killing Flag however, Deadshot murdered the senator. Flag was forced to flee, and unwittingly, the existence of the Suicide Squad was still revealed. Flag set out to destroy the Jihad team once and for all after learning that his father had previously attacked their stronghold, Jotunheim, during World War II in order to neutralize a Nazi prototype nuclear weapon. He left a note to Nightshade detailing his plans. The bomb was still there, buried under rubble and the Jihad was unaware of its presence. Flag sneaked in and slew his way through to the bomb itself. He battled the Jihad's leader Rustam personally, just before the bomb exploded. Raise The Flag It was later revealed that, in the final seconds before the nuke went off, Rustam teleported himself and Flag to Skataris. A few years later, Rick Flag was rescued from a secret Quraci prison by the Bronze Tiger. He had been imprisoned there for four years until Amanda Waller discovered him and alerted the Tiger to his whereabouts. Rick was later revealed to be leading a clandestine Suicide Squad unit at the behest of Amanda Waller, and against the expressed mandate of the Checkmate organization. During an internal poweer struggle within the Suicide Squad, former General Wade Eiling revealed that he had brainwashed Rick Flag all those years ago, and that he was secretly a soldier named Anthony Miller. Overcoming the conditioning due to extreme stress, Flag was able to incapacitate Eiling and hand control of the Squad over to Amanda Waller. When offered to choice of leaving, he declined, on the grounds that the Squad "needs a Rick Flag". Powers and Abilities *'Aviation Expert' *'Firearms Expert' *'Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced) Expert' *'Investigation Expert' *'Leadership' *'Surveillance Expert' *'Expert Tracking' Strength *'Peak Physical Condition': Rick Flag possesses the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise. He once engaged in a prolonged fight against the Batman and the two fought to nearly a standstill. Equipment Weapons *Military Issue Sidearm; also uses various automatic and semi-automatic weaponry. Flag has acquired the Psi-Scimitar, an energy-based mêlée weapon that he recovered from his late adversary Rustam. Notes *Rick Flag is legally referred to as Richard Flag, Jr. despite the fact that he and Richard Flag have different middle names. *Flag's son, Rick Flag II, was placed in foster care by his mother, Karin Grace, and Flag has not visited him even when an opportunity presented itself. In Other Media *Rick Flag Jr. appeared in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, where he alongside his boss Dr. Amanda Waller observed the events unfolding at the riot in Blackgate prison to locate potential recruits for the Suicide Squad. He also met Batman in person with the pretense of arresting Catwoman and also placing Bane back into custody. However, he secretly released Catwoman and supplied her with a clean record and secret thanks, although he was reluctant due to narrowly failing her main objective, recruiting Bane, as they were forced to give Bane back to Blackgate to save face. See Also *Rick Flag Jr./Gallery Links *http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Flag,_Jr._(New_Earth) *http://www.comicvine.com/rick-flag/29-39769/ Category:Allies Category:Villains Category:Suicide Squad Members